Michael Winner Never Recovered from Poisoned Oysters

The 77-year-old died at his home in Kensington just before midday today (January 21).

His wife Geraldine was at his side when he passed away.

A spokesman said his friends and family were "devastated" by his death.

Winner, who made more than 70 films, had struggled with poor health since eating a plate of bad oysters while on holiday in Barbados in the Caribbean, five years ago.

It is understood Winner died of organ failure.

Geraldine Winner, who married the film maker two years ago, spoke of her pain at his death: "Michael was a wonderful man: brilliant, funny and generous. A light has gone out in my life."

In a film career which spanned more than 50 years, he worked with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, including Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum and Faye Dunaway.

Winner's greatest success came in the US, when he took the reins of the 1974 vigilante drama Death Wish from original director Sidney Lumet. Death Wish, starring Charles Bronson as a mild-mannered architect turned gun-toting angel of vengeance, bloomed into one of the year's biggest box-office hits and went on to spawn two sequels.

He later reinvented himself as a restaurant critic, writing about food in his typically flamboyant style in his Winner's Dinners column for the Sunday Times, which he gave up only last month.

18 months to live

Winner, whose appearance in adverts for motor insurance coined the catchphrase 'Calm down dear, it's only a commercial', also founded and funded the Police Memorial Trust following the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

Winner was reportedly suffering with liver problems and had been told by doctors he had 18 months to live.